How I Got Here: Layla Kaisi on Jumping From College Straight Into Jewelry

By Karen Dybis | October 22, 2025

Layla Kaisi (pictured) was raised between cultures, giving her a global perspective and a storyteller’s sensibility—which she uses for jewelry pieces she conceives as living art rather than traditional adornment.

An Iraqi New Zealander, Kaisi grew up in Auckland amid both her family’s heritage and Western culture. “That duality still shapes everything in my work today,” says the founder of Auckland-based Layla Kaisi Collection. “My family’s story taught me that identity is a living thing, constantly evolving, adapting, and honoring both past and future.”

For Kaisi, jewelry became the most intimate way to hold one’s truth close. Watching her father buy jewelry for her mother—a deliberate, thoughtful process that could take hours, she says—and the way her mother wore those pieces influence her today.

“I can still hear the soft clinking of my mum’s rings and bracelets as she applied her makeup before going out,” Kaisi says. “The combination of ritual, beauty, and storytelling fascinated me.”

Layla Kaisi reverence — *Selena Gomez was recently seen on Instagram wearing the Recursive ear cuff (price on request), in 18k white gold with pear-shape diamonds, from Layla Kaisi’s Reverence collection.*

Kaisi went to Takapuna Grammar School (a secondary school) and then the University of Auckland, from which she graduated in 2017 with a degree in biological sciences and psychology. Her parents wanted her to have a science career because it was structured and secure, something Middle Eastern families like hers value, says Kaisi.

“My background in science and psychology gave me a unique lens—I learned to see systems, patterns, and how people respond to feeling and form,” she says. “Shapes carry emotion, and jewelry can be a psychology of the soul.”

Kaisi has had only a few jobs outside her jewelry brand, working in retail on weekends during high school and briefly at the Auckland Weddings directory managing social media while she was establishing her own business. In that social media role, she learned how to connect with clients to present their stories.

“I quickly realized that my energy thrived in autonomy,” Kaisi says. “I wanted to create, experiment, and see where my own vision could take me. That drive is what led me to launch Layla Kaisi Collection straight out of university, with no rules to follow and everything to discover.”

Making what she calls a “leap into the unknown,” Kaisi says she was motivated not by a market opportunity or a business plan but by instinct. “I wanted to create pieces I couldn’t find anywhere else— jewelry that was sculptural, meaningful, and completely original,” she says.

“It was a time of intense experimentation: learning how to source materials, translate ideas into forms, navigate clients, and manage a fledgling business. Everything was a lesson in resilience, adaptability, and radical trust in myself.”

Layla Kaisi ring — *Kaisi also uses 18k white gold and a pear-cut diamond in Reverence’s Silhouette ring (price on request).*

Naming the brand was not about ego, she says—it was about responsibility. It meant that every piece leaving her hands had to embody the integrity, artistry, and conceptualization she wanted her name to stand for.

“I started simply, creating the kind of designs I wanted to see but could not find, pieces that were delicate but felt sculptural and meaningful,” says Kaisi. “I began sharing my work on Instagram, using it as both a creative journal and a way to connect directly with people who felt drawn to the same sense of quiet luxury and storytelling.”

Layla Kaisi Collection (LKC) now has clients and collectors all over the world, including celebrities—such as Selena Gomez, who wore three Kaisi pieces with pear-cut diamonds in an Instagram story teasing her new music video: the Cadence three-finger ring, the Reclamation open cuff for palm, and the Recursive loop ear cuff.

“Wearing LKC is more than adorning accessory. It’s entering a space reserved for those who understand the value of design, intentionality, and refinement,” Kaisi says. “It’s a quiet declaration that you are not here to follow but to define.

“Every piece becomes a signature. That’s the standard I hold for every creation: It must be meaningful, it must be intentional, and it must be unforgettable.”

(Photos courtesy of Layla Kaisi)